As repression rises, Saudis pack up and leave

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New York(ANN)-Increasingly more Saudi Arabians are leaving their home country and filing for asylum abroad in recent years, as repression rises in the kingdom, especially under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a report says.

In a report on Sunday, CNN
used data from the United Nations (UN)’s Refugee Agency, the UNHCR, to
show how the number of Saudi Arabians leaving their country and seeking
asylum abroad rose from a mere seven in 1993 to 2,392 in 2017.

That figure took a dramatically steeper rise in 2015, when King
Salman ascended to the throne and, over a short period of time, gave his
son Mohammed carte blanche to effectively run the country.

To interpret the numbers, CNN cited “activists and analysts,” who
pointed to a combination of medieval social practices against women,
domestic abuse, and, most prominently, state repression of dissent as
the reasons for the sharp rise in the number of the Saudi Arabians
choosing to live elsewhere under asylum.

The report in particular highlighted “Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s campaign to stamp out dissent in the kingdom.”

Ali Shihabi, a supporter of Mohammed and the founder of The Arabia
Foundation, a Washington-based think tank, said, “Certainly, the
political space and the space for freedoms were already very tight, and
it’s gotten much tighter over the last two years. So, certainly, the
environment would provoke more Saudis to go abroad.”

The report said, “The trend of Saudis seeking refuge has grown
despite risks of interception by Saudi authorities,” a risk that has
grown stronger in the wake of the state-sponsored murder of Saudi
dissident Jamal Khashoggi inside Saudi Arabia’s consulate in the Turkish
city of Istanbul in October last year.

“It’s absolutely impossible that I would ever go to the Saudi
Embassy,” the London-based Saudi dissident Yahya Assiri told CNN shortly
after news of Khashoggi’s initial disappearance broke. “I refused to go
before, and the Khashoggi situation has made my decision even clearer.”

Nourah, a 20-year-old Saudi asylum seeker in Australia who declined
to reveal her full name for security reasons, said that the ongoing
crackdown by the Riyadh regime made asylum “a very popular idea in Saudi
Arabia.”

The domestic abuse of women in Saudi Arabia attracted international
attention when Saudi teenager Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun fled her family on
a trip and locked herself in a hotel room in Thailand until she
was granted asylum in Canada last month.

According to the UNHCR figures, between 2015 and 2016, the number of
Saudi refugees and asylum seekers rose by 52% to 1,936, compared to an
average year-on-year increase of around 13% over the preceding decade.
In 2017, the number increased 23.55% to 2,392.

Human Rights Watch Middle East researcher Adam Coogle said that the
sharpest rise in Saudi refugees occurred after 2015, the year Mohammed
emerged in the kingdom’s political scene.

“You have people fleeing political repression, and that’s very easily
tied to MbS and what he’s done. And I think that the number (of
asylum-seekers) you’re seeing here is indicative of that,” Coogle said,
using Mohammed’s initials.

Last year, Mohammed ordered the jailing of high-profile princes,
clerics, analysts, and businessmen in a crackdown that he attempted to
portray as an “anti-corruption” fight but that was widely seen as a
repression of political dissent.

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admin - Arraale Mohamoud Jama Freelance Journalist and Human Rights Activist
Arraale, is a 20 year experience as a professional Journalist and human rights activist Over the years, worked for the major News Papers in Somaliland as a reporter, editor and contributor. 2008 established website Araweelo News Network, he currently runs a web site based in Somaliland. who is the specializes in the investigation and reporting on issues relating to human rights, democracy, and good governance. contact: Info@araweelonews.com jaamac132@gmail.com Send an SMS or MMS to + 252 63 442 5380 WhatsApp + 252 65 910 7347.